North Texas residents looking for an affordable new home may soon be out of luck.

That’s because homebuilders are continuing to focus on the mid and upper-priced market while all but abandoning the lowest-priced new housing.

Starts of new homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area priced between $200,000 and $250,000 dropped more than 19 percent in the most recent quarter, according to a new report by housing analyst Metrostudy Inc.

And with continued rising costs for land, labor and building materials, it’s getting harder and harder for local builders to produce an entry-level house.

“Over the past two years, starts below $200,000 decreased dramatically while starts between $200,000 and $249,000 remained relatively flat or slightly increased,” Paige Shipp, regional director of Metrostudy’s Dallas-Fort Worth region, said in a new report. “This quarter, starts in that price tranche dropped 19.3 percent, which signals a possible extinction of new homes below $250,000 in D-FW.”

The biggest increase in North Texas starts in the most recent quarter was for homes priced between $300,000 and $400,000. Starts in that price range were up more than 50 percent, according to Metrostudy.

And starts of homes priced $400,000 to $500,000 rose by just over 40 percent.Read More >